What's on my mind today?

Last summer, my mom and sisters threw me a baby shower in Indiana, and it was lovely, and I thanked them profusely. At least, I think I did. I meant to, anyway. I assume I did. I don't know. Whatever...pregnancy does weird things to your memory.

My point is, however much I thanked them, or however much I meant to thank them, it wasn't nearly enough. Because my family (Jess, in particular, I think) made all of these beautiful tissue paper flower looking things that were straight from the Martha Stewart guide to entertaining to decorate the outdoor space where we had the shower, and they (she?) made a ton of them. And they looked awesome, and I decided I was going to make a couple to add to the pile 'o decorations for Brigid's birthday party. Just a little something to balance out the Sesame Street vomit that will occur in my kitchen on the day of the party, you know?

I made two.

And I'm almost ready to give up. My fingers hurt. The tissue paper keeps tearing. The flowers look a little sad and droopy. And my choice of pipe cleaners over wire or twist ties does not seem to be making the cut.

Martha Stewart, I am not. But my family? They rock...

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Did you know that pipe cleaners are now called 'fuzzy sticks'?

You do now.

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One of my old college roommates is in town this weekend for a wedding, and it's been approximately a bajillion years since I've seen her. In celebration of her visit (and a lovely Friday night dinner with said roommate, her husband, and another old college roommate who actually lives in Atlanta, but who I still don't see nearly enough because she is young and hip and lives ITP, whereas I am old and lazy and live in the 'burbs), I am actually going so far as to get a baby-sitter for Friday night so Steve and I can both go out to dinner.

Together.

At the same time.

I'm a little excited.

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I hate purple glitter. And I hate tulle covered in purple glitter. And I have a sneaking suspicion that despite all of my dealings with the tulle covered in purple glitter, my child will not agree to wear the pretty Halloween costume I am making for her. She has attitude, that one.

I can't imagine how that happened...

Where craft projects go to die...

Either having your first child unleashes your inner Martha Stewart, or my sadly depleted social life in this first year of motherhood has forced me to find new ways to entertain myself.  Whatever way you want to look at it, my creative juices, they are a-flowin', and I made my first trip to Hobby Lobby this weekend for something other than Christmas decorations.

This?  Right here?  This is going to be Brigid's Halloween costume...eventually.

I don't want to spoil the surprise (because Brigid is big on keeping her costume ideas a secret...), but this will involve those pink wings and a magic wand that I plan to make out of ribbon, a dowel rod, and some hot glue.  At some point.  Before Halloween.  I hope.  Right now, Steve and I are just taking turns knotting a couple of pieces of tulle to the elastic band every so often.  And seeing as how someone thought glittery purple tulle would be a nice addition to the outfit, someone spends every night wiping glittery purple specks off of all of the kitchen furniture.  Martha never tells you about that part of the process...

This one here?  It will eventually be this.  I hope...

It's a really cute idea for a portable growth chart, and I was pretty excited when I showed Steve what I wanted to do.  But, instead of dowel rods, he wanted to use real sticks.  And instead of hot glue, he wanted it sewn.  So he found a real stick, and he sewed it up into the top of the fabric, and he put the twine on it.  And then he quit, so he could show me what it looked like. And I love it!  But, he never bothered to pick up a stick for the bottom of the darn thing.  And it's been raining ever since.  So, it's on hold.  But it will be done in time for the first birthday, or there will be some unreasonable freaking out,brought to you in part by my general lack of perspective.  I'm willing to bet Martha never has to deal with this kind of incompetence!

Also done in time for the impending first birthday?  This...

...will be turned into the party itself.  That tissue paper?  That will be hanging from the ceiling in the shape of lovely little poms, straight from the direction of Martha herself.  I'll give you a guess or two on what the theme of the day will be.  Not pictured in this box?  The Elmo-shaped cake pan Steve ordered on eBay, and the instructions for decorating said cake with many, many different colors of frosting.  That baking thing?  That's beyond any Martha-like channeling I am capable of.

And finally, this...

This is my currently poorly-decorated-for-fall mantle, which is awaiting my trip to the pumpkin patch in a couple of weeks (For Brigid, you know.  All for Brigid...) for a little additional sprucing.  The magazine picture?  That's Southern Living, of course.  And that's a picture of what I want to put up there.  But considering it involves planting actual plants in a large, hollowed out pumpkin, and I hate hollowing out pumpkins, and I'm less than capable of keeping any living plant in that condition (you know, alive) for longer than a week, I'm thinking this is the least likely of my intended projects to ever see the light of day. 

Even Martha can't pull it all off, right?

I have NO idea where the cuteness comes from...

So, I'm tired. And, I've got almost nothing to share today. No fantastic post. No cute stories about what we did this weekend. No exciting updates on what the baby is doing these days.

All I have is this. This weird, toddler-like creature who seems to have taken over my sweet, tiny baby...

But I'm guessing that's enough...

And, who said I wasn't an artist?

Editor's Note - this was supposed to post last Wednesday, but I don't think I set up the scheduling correctly.  Better late than never, eh?

Nothing mixes quite like wine and paint...am I right or am I right?

I always knew I was good at the wine, but I wasn't sure how I'd be at the painting.  Turns out, I am amazing.  Seriously, check out my skills.  And please ignore the fact that the helmet and football were pre-sketched for me, in a paint by numbers kind of way, and instead focus on my free-handed 3.  It's a lot better than the 7 from the person sitting next to me (coughKATIEcough).

The green...it shows up so much better than the red, doesn't it?  I went with the old school, Joe Montana green and yellow, because my paint choices were kind of limited...

I'd like it to be known that my sister-in-law is a big cheater.  Those laces on her football?  She totally had the instructor draw them in for her.  Boo!

Can I just tell you the troubles I went through trying to find something even close to the gold for my gold helmet? I started out trying to lighten my yellow, but it looked...not so great.  Apparently, the golden wheat is a color the instructor keeps under lock and key, for her special students.  It was like she hated the thought of sharing it with me.  Apparently, the instructor does not recognize true artistic genius when she sees it.  Again, did she even look at my 3?!?!?  Free-hand, baby!

All of those black lined helmet tracings?  That was the hardest part of the whole thing.  And it's the very last thing we did.  After we had been drinking wine for three hours.  Something seems a little backwards to me.  But, what do I know?  I don't even really qualify to use the special paint colors... 

I thought when all was said and done, that this would be a nice addition to my office.  But, after seeing the finished product, I've totally changed my mind.  There are better places to display my genius...

Looks good, doesn't it?

Vacation Pictures, Part III

The one with all of the landscapes...

I like Steve's landscape pictures.  Really, I do.  But I also like making fun of Steve for all of the landscape pictures he takes.  And let's be honest, I wouldn't be me if I didn't.

Anyway, here is a small selection of a few of my favorites from the week...

These pictures don't really need any sort of running commentary from me, I think.  Just enjoy the beauty, and be jealous that you weren't there to see it live with us...

And, a couple of more pictures from Greg and his hipstamatic, of course...

The first one, it's a little creepy to me, a little too 'walk towards the light', if you will.  But the second one?  I'm kind of a fan of the old school feel.

And that was our trip. 

Seriously, I'd really love to go back soon.  Like maybe now.  Please?

Vacation Pictures, Part II

Baby pictures!! 

We didn't really take any fabulously down and dirty baby pictures with the good camera, because we didn't really want to risk the good camera when there was sand flying through the air.  So, this is what we're left with...

Still pretty adorable, if I do say so myself.

These first two pictures?  Taken by my brother-in-law, Greg, with his iPhone and the hipstamatic app.  He'd like you all to know he's available to photograph weddings and other special events...as long you're o.k. with nothing but camera phone pictures, that is.

Personally, I'm a fan.  I think the second one is one of my favorites from the entire trip.

And now, the rest of the story...

I can't believe I'm voluntarily posting these pictures of myself, but if I don't, Brigid will think I was never around during her childhood.  I'm doing this for you, kiddo!

Grandma Gillespie has a sick sense of humor.

Overall, I'd say the kid enjoyed herself...

Of course, you can't forget to wave goodnight to the moon!

And back to having fun...

Now when do I get to go back?!?!?

Coming tomorrow?  Steve, the serious photographer...

Vacation Pictures, Part I

The fishing trip...

Do I look like I should be awake in this picture?  That answer would be no, since we had to be on the boat around 6:45am, and that boat was about 45 minutes away from where we were staying, meaning at this point, I had been up since about 5:30am.  I am not happy.  I am also not showered.  Bleh.

The boat!  That dude in the red t-shirt?  He does not take kindly to flippant trash-talking, apparently, as it was his fault I was set down with a pole and a pile of squid pieces.  I do not take kindly to squid pieces.  No flippant trash-talking next time...

Don't they look the part?  I, on the other hand, was wearing a J Crew cover-up and a bathing suit.  It's no wonder they thought it would be funny to see me try to fish.

Yes, I did enjoy my role as the official photographer, thanks...

First drop, first bite...

...first catch!  Why settle for one, huh?

Oh look, more fish...

And more reeling, for more fish.  My arm is getting tired just thinking about it.  This fishing thing?  It's kind of hard work...

And that, my friends, is the haul of the boat.  The string hanging from the third hook on the left?  That would be the one that we caught on our own.  One of those fish is mine...hoo!

And that was the fishing trip.  Tomorrow?  Pictures of the baby!

Vacation Hangover

So, we were on vacation last week. And it was awesome. We spent the week at the beach...we swam in the pool, we played in the sand, we tried to brave the seaweed in the ocean a time or two, we baked in the sun, we enjoyed the sea breeze.

We went deep sea fishing, finally (we say we're going to go every year), so check that off of my life list. I went along for the ride, because I know myself, and I knew I did not want to spend the money to actually try my hand at fishing. I hate fish. I hate bait. I hate reeling. I just wanted to sit on on a boat in the middle of the ocean and watch other people catch stuff. But I had to run my mouth. Something about how I wasn't allowed to fish because the guys were afraid I'd outshine them...and the next thing I know, I'm outfitted with a pole and a pile of smelly squid pieces. Apparently, since the boat was less than full, the mates decided I should give it a go. I caught a fish my first cast. I was excited. I dropped my line a couple of more times, caught nothing, got bored, and sat back down on my bench to ride out the rest of the trip. I am ridiculously happy I did not pay for the whole fishing aspect of the trip, because I would most definitely have lost money on the endeavor. Fishing is boring. Riding on a boat in the middle of the ocean is not.

We went shopping, we watched the sunset over the water, we went out to dinner a couple of times, I ate oysters. I ate a lot of oysters, actually.

I did not sleep past 7:30 in the morning 99% of the time because Steve has a thing for early morning fishing and Brigid has a thing for not sleeping in late for mommy. I did not nap, except for that one time I drifted off while sitting on the beach, when I may or may not have had a dream prominently featuring a certain cast member from So You Think You Can Dance. I did not read as many books as I usually do on vacation, since apparently when you have a kid, you are expected to take care of it even when you are on vacation.

Who knew?

I did, however, manage to get through one very good book and spend some lovely quality time on the beach, thanks to a husband who doesn't mind exchanging mornings fishing for afternoons on baby watch. And I have a lovely mother-in-law who doesn't mind staying behind a time or two so I can do vacation-type things with my husband without a baby in tow (that whole deep sea fishing thing? not exactly baby friendly...). And I have a fantastic sister-in-law, brother-in-law, and father-in-law, all of whom love my child dearly and are willing to allow me to pawn her off on them for various feedings and quiet moments of sanity (AKA showers).

And I have pictures! Well, I have iPhone pictures, that is.

I have pictures of Brigid's feet in the water and pictures of Brigid's first time in the sand. I do not have pictures of the clean-up after Brigid's first time in the sand, because that involved a whole lot of nekkid baby. And an outdoor shower. And maybe a pool.

Good times.

I have pictures of so much more, believe me, but those are on my camera. And we know how long it takes for me to upload those pictures to this here blog. I'm shooting for sometime this week, but I reserve the right to change my mind.

After all, I'm still on beach time over here.